This blog is a compilation of web links and video links. Not all video links are AILV students, but the AILV student work represents over two million hits on youtube.com. Lots of other ideas, too. * It's definitely a challenge, but you can do it.

Friday, September 17, 2010

I used to work in corporate marketing. One of the challenges we had came every year when we had the national sales meeting. We'd pull guys off the grid, pull them into corporate headquarters and waste their time. I asked why? The Vice President of Sales said the goal was to increase sales. I suggested we call the sales conference "Sell More Stuff" because that is what we wanted to do, wasn't it?

Stephanie did a project for Market Research class that indeed does the trick for a children's clothing store. How do they sell more shoes? I think she did a great job! Click on the link above to get the full story. The following is an image. Click on it to enlarge it:

The 1971 Chevelle SS.

This car is bursting with testosterone, grease, and beer. I'm not saying women won't like it because all women want guys in muscle cars, I'm just saying it won't like women. It wasn't made for women. This man-made beast of a machine was built for one purpose, burning rubber. Check out the racing tires, look at the hood(and picture what's underneath), and just imagine yourself churning down the road as other cars remain flecks in your rear view. Picture yourself rolling down the road in this horsepower strapped piece of retro-badassery and then ask yourself, do I really want that Toyota anymore? Is it really that important that I get that hybrid for the environment, I'm just one man what can I possibly do to help save the o-zone? The answer is nothing, decide to place the o-zone into the hands of much lesser men than yourself and sit down on the cigarette burnt leather seats, grab your 8-track collection(you know you still have one), and prepare to propel your life into the well-used future.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

In the Fundamentals of Advertising class, we welcomed Jerry Metellus to give a presentation and show his work.

He is a former entertainer (model, dancer, actor) who traded the limelight to setting up lights and shines it on others. He prefers to work with people but will also shoot food and architecture. “I can handle, but they're not the best humorous communicators...”

In this sample image, he shot it without any special effects. These are principle dancers with the Nevada Ballet... with their son, who is not actually in the company. Click on that image to go to his website.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

The Web's New Gold Mine: Your Secrets A Journal investigation finds that one of the fastest-growing businesses on the Internet is the business of spying on consumers

The Journal examined the 50 most popular U.S. websites, which account for about 40% of the Web pages viewed by Americans. (The Journal also tested its own site, WSJ.com.) It then analyzed the tracking files and programs these sites downloaded onto a test computer.

As a group, the top 50 sites placed 3,180 tracking files in total on the Journal's test computer. Nearly a third of these were innocuous, deployed to remember the password to a favorite site or tally most-popular articles.

But over two-thirds—2,224—were installed by 131 companies, many of which are in the business of tracking Web users to create rich databases of consumer profiles that can be sold.

The top venue for such technology, the Journal found, was IAC/InterActive Corp.'s Dictionary.com. A visit to the online dictionary site resulted in 234 files or programs being downloaded onto the Journal's test computer, 223 of which were from companies that track Web users.

The information that companies gather is anonymous, in the sense that Internet users are identified by a number assigned to their computer, not by a specific person's name. The company, for instance, says it doesn't know the name of users such as Ms. Jones—only their behavior and attributes, identified by code number.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Websites and blogs that post Las Vegas Review-Journal content, however innocent their intent, can expect to be sued without warning

In the Las Vegas Sun Newspaper on August 5, 2010, an article by Steve Green details the Las Vegas Review Journal’s attempt to control their original content. A brief synopsis follows. Click on the headline to go to the original article.

“Righthaven’s procedure has been to “troll” to find an infringement of an R-Jcopyright to a specific story. It then buys the copyright for that story fromthe R-J’s owner, Stephens Media LLC, and afterward sues the infringer…

In online forums and news stories, Righthaven has been widely pounded onfor suing mom-and-pop-type bloggers, nonprofit groups and special-interestwebsites that can’t afford to fight back in court — and for hitting copyrightinfringers with suits rather than asking that they take down the stories andreplace them with links to the originals…

None of the contested Righthaven cases has advanced to the point where a trial has been scheduled. Judges as of Friday had not yet ruled on the motions for dismissal or the other legal arguments by defendants…”

Thursday, June 17, 2010

In the web marketing class, we apply marketing theories and strategies to the World Wide Web. Our goal is to identify the major distributors and online outlets for content in the present marketplace, delineate the various current models for making money on the Internet and the requirements for an effective Web site design.

This Spring, the following students did a great job on their projects. You can access their websites through their blogs.

Gail put her site on the AILV servers. Click here to see if it is still "Up and Running"

Here are two of the animations they made for the class. The first is the proposal animatic and the second is the finished animation. The concept is great... you can see the planning. The finished animation is linked to a live action video - not my choice, I think the animation stands on its own. Enjoy!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

I got this from Steve Scott. He is in my Career Development Class this quarter:

I was at lunch with my wife the other day with my wife, when I received a phone call from an employer looking for a graphic designer. I was surprised by the call because I really wasn’t looking for a job at the time. It just so happens that career services sent over my resume. This employer had a few resumes to look at so I knew I had to get in there as soon as possible to be his first interview. I had to battle my first instanced to just run over there right away and meet this person. This is how I used to do it, and it never seemed to work out. I asked, “how about tomorrow morning?” and then I asked what time would he be getting to the office, and he told me around 8:30 am. I knew that it would be best to give him time to get situated so I made an appointment for 9:30 am. This seemed to please him. He stated that he has quite a few people to look at, and I stated that after he meets me he will look no farther.

I think that this whole interview would have never been this good without the guidance of my teacher Frank Pinto. He is my Career Development teacher at the Art Institute Las Vegas. I thought to myself about how truly I would be prepared for this interview thanks to his class.

That night I went home to check out this businesses web site. Man was I surprised to see that it was right up my ally. I knew this job was for me. I knew that this was the place I wanted to work. So I started to take big steps to ensure this job was going to be mine.

My and me wife started to shop. I knew I needed to dress to impress, so we went out to look for some nice cloths for me to wear. We spent 3 hrs shopping around before we came to Wal-Mart, the last place I wanted to go to find cloths. But to my surprise I found everything I needed. I looked pretty good, maybe a little over dressed. But I looked really professional.

The day of the interview I showed up 15 minutes early dressed to impress. I had to wait in the waiting room for 20 minutes so I busted out my GD USA magazine and read. When I went into the interview I was ready. I knew what I needed to say, and I had an idea of what they wanted to hear.

When they asked me what amount I was looking for I threw them a story of how I have been going to school for 4 years preparing me for this job They told me that they were looking for somebody to work with another designer and the postion paid a modest amount an hour. I also told them I would settle for significantly more as long as they agreed to look at a raise in the future. But since I seem to have so much more experience I would be hired as the other employee’s boss. He offered me $5 more and asked if that would be good to start for now? Then he said we could talk about more in a couple of months. So already I have made $9,000 dollars extra because I knew how to walk into that interview prepared. Not to mention when he sat me down behind the computer he was even more impressed. I rocked that interview. I start work next Tuesday. I gave my old employer two weeks notice and I am off to start my new career as a Graphic Designer. Thanks Frank Pinto and your Career Development class.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

This is the project that the students did in the Winter in Project Managment Class. I think they did a great job. They worked with the Cullinary Department to build a combination Cookbook and cooking DVD. The project was very elaborate and looked great, too. It included a website, videos and mock ups of the finished projects. The web content was created by Tamaki. Here is a snapshot of her talent:Here is the cover of the book and here is Kent, the lead graphic designer.

Click here to see the other team members. They all worked very hard, and did a wonderful job. The Culinary Department - via Chef Pinkny - was very impressed!

Monday, February 22, 2010

I challenged my Project Management class to create a super bowl style commercial and post it to youtube.com and get 5.000 hits. They did this under tight constraints. They formed groups of four people of mixed degrees including film-making, animation and game design. They had just two weeks to create, film and edit the one minute (plus five seconds of credits) and then post it to youtube at one minute after midnight Friday before super bowl. Then they had seven days (incuding Super Bowl Sunday) to get the hits. They did a project on guerrilla marketing to develop ideas to spread the word.

One project was weak and had hits that proved it. Another was a good effort, and they learned a lot, but the hits were a miss. One group did a fine job on the commercial and had over 6,000 hits in less then seven days. It had grown since: 7,625 views as of today. I think if they put the effort in, they might be able to cross 10,000. Alas, the project is over. We have moved on to a way more challenging set of projects for the second half of the quarter. Enjoy!

If you want to check out the other projects, go to youtube and search on ailv and stress. The class chose the search terms!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

It is a very difficult time for our profession and especially for young designers who are graduating into this industry. This is from Career Services found in LinkedIn.com. Members were asked to share their insights and even "secrets" as to how to succeed in this industry.

Todd Bricker

Networking. It is a huge advantage to know someone, to have worked with them in the past and to have done a good job while working with them.

Lynne Kelly

If a strong-willed client comes to you with a lot of terrible ideas for the design project you are working on for them, don't waste your time and energy trying to talk them out of it. It takes much less time and effort to make a quick comp giving them exactly what they think they want, and then present it side-by-side with the piece that they actually need. 98% of the time they will immediately see the error of their ways and start treating you like the expert they hired you to be.

Kara Hooper

We are creative and have flexible brains. I think one of the most important things a young designer can do is learn the vocabulary of the people you work with. If you call it a pen and they call it a stylo, start calling it a stylo when you talk with them. If they call it a marketing strategy and you call it a direct mail piece, call it a marketing strategy. Once you speak their vocabulary and have a mutual space in which to talk together, you can begin to educate them and help expand their definitions. It's about them all the time. Meet them where they are.

Todd Bricker

The thinking is correct. Give them what they want, give them what they need and give them a combination of the two (almost like you're picking the battle to fight). Most of the time they pick the combo. So, I've reduced the number of concepts down to only 2. What they want and what I want them to select. I still give it my all on both concepts though.

George Loch

Not every piece of work will be portfolio-worthy but everyone should be as profitable as possible.

Todd Bricker

One important piece of advice that will take you a long way: learn how to write. Learn how to articulate your point impressively and like an adult. So many people in my age group (most of whom are coming out of school right now) can't even put a proper sentence together or spell correctly. When you have to describe yourself on paper, write a cover letter, write copy, or write a proposal, your writing ability WILL say something to its reader about your level of professionalism and education.

Angelica Kopiczko

I'm also a recent graduate and by no means really experienced. But! I would like to strongly suggest that anyone still in school, take an internship if you get the opportunity. Even if it's unpaid! If you like the agency's work, then go and learn and get experience. While I was in school, I was also working full time (not in the industry) and I refused to take on an unpaid internship because I already had a full time paying job. But now my biggest problem in finding a job in the industry is my lack of experience. I have two bachelors (one in business and one in design), as well as lot of experience in customer service, but without agency experience, I'm hitting a wall.

Pat Carito

Good design is about translating communication or marketing objectives effectively and without having an understanding of how companies do business most designer will unfortunately fail. My advice to any designer would be to take marketing and communication courses in addition to design and world applications.

Sal Randazzo

Young designers should embrace the practice of creating design briefs that uses universal language that the business community will understand... do not talk in design speak while addressing clients with design solutions. Sharpen your listening, intuitive, and verbal and non-verbal skills to better understand the client and their initial reaction(s) to your design ideas. Cultivate a life long curiosity of learning from clients, design, etc.

Bill Dawson

Relationships are the most important thing in your career. Call it networking, call it friendship, but people will make the difference in your career: Mentors, co-workers and clients. Find those kindred spirits and build those relationships.

Susan Reed

One thing that hasn't really been mentioned here is that recent graduates should not be too proud to have to pay their dues. It doesn't have to be for the rest of your career. Your first 'design' position might be working on the client side, doing production art for packaging labels or daily updates to the company's web site via a template.

Twitter Updates

Twitter Updates

About Me

As an instructor with an MBA in International Marketing and Economics, I have a decade of experience in being the economist in the marketing department of an international company. I think I get a pretty accurate picture of how the students evaluate my class.
“You can not be referred to as an easy instructor, but I have to thank you for what you do for us. You hold us accountable and taunt us into bringing our A game. KK Interior Design
“There were times that I wanted to pull my hair out in frustration and times when I was on top of the world because I was excited and motivated with the project.” TS Filmmaking
“I would not have been as challenged and inspired to succeed if I had a more laid back instructor. I could tell Pinto really cared about what he was trying to teach us through these projects.” JK Graphic Design
“Slackers will never succeed in their business, and they will get a crash course in their ability to prepare through Pinto himself. …The past few months have been very difficult, but this is exactly what I needed. I benefited from this class completely and only wish I took it sooner.” AM Game Art Design